Pahrump court update keeps Robert Short murder case in focus

The Robert Short case is still moving through Pahrump’s court system, and the latest hearing kept one of Nye County’s most serious homicide cases in public view. Cristy Willis was in Judge Wanker’s courtroom on June 11, where the case was discussed more than a year after the killing that first drew intense attention across Pahrump.

Short Jr. is accused of killing his father in February 2025 with a sword, an allegation that has made the case one of the most closely watched criminal matters in the county. The courtroom appearance did not bring a final resolution, but it showed the case remains active and is still being handled locally in Pahrump rather than being pushed out of sight.

The underlying incident happened on Monday, February 10, 2025, on the 1000 block of Bunarch Road just before 6 p.m. Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill said the episode began as a verbal domestic argument between a father and son. Deputies were told the suspect drove eastbound on Bunarch Road, and a pursuit followed southbound on Highway 160.

McGill said Robert Short Jr. told dispatchers he would stop in the Albertsons parking lot, but instead stopped at the Home Depot parking lot at Basin Avenue and Highway 160, where the chase ended. At the residence, deputies found the father bleeding heavily from his head and face. McGill said he appeared to have been struck with either a sword or a crowbar. Despite immediate lifesaving efforts, the victim died.

Short Jr. faced open murder with a deadly weapon, felony evading, violating an extended protective order and possession of a vehicle without the owner’s consent. The case has also carried added weight because of a prior arrest in April 2022 tied to a domestic dispute on Bunarch Road, involving attempted murder, domestic battery with a deadly weapon and abuse of an elderly person.

For Pahrump and the wider Nye County community, the June 11 hearing matters because it shows the case is still in the pipeline and still demanding court attention. In a town where violent crime cases can reverberate far beyond the courtroom, each proceeding shapes how quickly the case advances and how long the family, prosecutors and local law enforcement remain tied to it.